Social media has become a part of our everyday lives. More than half the world uses social media. The average person spends almost two and a half hours on social media a day. That’s a lot of people, a lot of time, and a lot of opportunity.
This in-depth article discusses the basics of social media marketing and its importance in today’s business landscape. With 93% of marketers worldwide using social media for business, having a strong social media presence can impact your company’s success.
We explore the different social media platforms businesses can use, the benefits of social media marketing, and strategies for creating an effective social media marketing campaign.
Summary/Overview
Social media marketing (SMM) means using social media platforms to promote your business. Social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn allow businesses to reach a large and diverse audience.
This is what’s known as “big business.” In the United States, social media ad spending is expected to reach over $94.4 billion in 2023. Organizations of all sizes use social media to drive brand awareness, increase website traffic, and generate leads.
Digital marketing on social media includes a variety of ads and techniques for reaching and engaging with potential customers. Some common types of ad formats on social media include:
- Sponsored ads: You can use paid ads to promote your products or services on social media platforms. These ads typically appear in posts, videos, or images and target specific demographics, interests, or behaviors.
- Influencer marketing: This is a form of SMM wherein you partner with social media influencers to promote your products or services. Influencers have a large following on social media and are considered by their audiences to be experts or thought leaders in their field.
- Video ads: Video ads are a popular way to promote a product or service on social media. They can tell a story, demonstrate a product, or provide educational content.
- Carousel ads: Carousel ads allow you to display multiple images or videos in a single ad. They’re often used to showcase a product or service from different angles or tell a story.
- Story ads: Some social media platforms like Instagram and Snapchat have a feature called “Stories,” where users can post a photo or video that remains visible for 24 hours. You can use this feature to promote your products or services.
- Interactive ads: Interactive ads are a new form of social media advertising that allow users to interact with the ad, for example, by playing a game or taking a survey.
- Live streaming: Live streaming is becoming increasingly popular on social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. You can use live videos to interact with your audience in real time and provide behind-the-scenes access to your products or services.
Social media isn’t going anywhere — it’s only growing. From 2021 to 2022, social media users increased by more than 10%. That’s over 376 million new users worldwide.
Many entrepreneurs and business owners have already realized the importance of using social media to reach new customers and engage with current ones.
Here are some of the benefits of SMM:
- Reach a wider audience. Social media allows businesses to reach a much wider audience than traditional forms of advertising. You can target potential customers based on their interests, location, age, and more.
- Increase brand awareness. The number one reason people follow brands on social media is to learn more about new products and services. Posting regularly on social media can increase brand awareness and help you build relationships with current and potential customers.
- Grow traffic to your website. Sharing engaging content on social media can drive traffic to your website, increasing the chance of conversions and helping you reach your business goals.
- Understand your customers. Customer data is a valuable asset. Social media gives you insight into your customers’ interests and behaviors. These metrics can help inform decisions about product development, marketing campaigns, and more.
- Generate leads. Social media is a great way to share content that generates leads for your business. You can use it to promote offers or discounts, encourage people to join your email list, or link to your products or services.
- Improve customer service. You can use social media to respond to customer inquiries and complaints, building trust in your brand.
Whether you have a small business or were hired as a social media manager for an organization looking to explore new marketing channels, developing a solid social media marketing plan is your first step.
Let’s dive into how you can use social networks to boost your business.
1. Identify campaign goals and objectives.
The first step in setting up an SMM plan is identifying your campaign goals and objectives. This helps you determine which metrics to track, what content to post, and how often to post it.
Your goals should be measurable and achievable, such as increasing brand awareness by 20% or generating 500 leads in the next six months.
Some other examples are:
- Increase website traffic by 30%.
- Boost social media engagement by 15%.
- Grow the number of followers on a specific platform by 10%.
- Increase sales by 5%.
Knowing your goals also helps you know which social media analytics to track.
2. Research and segment your target audience.
You can’t create compelling social media campaigns if you don’t know who your target audience is. Researching and segmenting your audience can help you create content that resonates with them.
Segmenting your audience also allows you to tailor messages to different groups of people, making it more effective at reaching the right people.
Create a buyer persona. This fictional representation of your ideal customer helps you create content tailored to them. Include specific demographics like age, location, and job title.
You should also include psychographics like interests, values, and lifestyle, so you know how best to engage and serve your ideal customer.
Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok are some of the most popular social media networks. But there’s also Pinterest, Reddit, Tumblr, and many others.
Each social platform has different demographics, so knowing your target audience is essential when selecting the right platforms for your SMM. Consider things like age, location, and interests when making your decision. Consider investing in a social media management tool to keep track of the different platforms you are posting on.
You should also think about the types of content you plan to create and how best to reach your target market on each platform. For example, if your audience loves video content on TikTok, your content creation plan should reflect that.
Let’s take a closer look at the different social media platforms and what they can offer for your marketing efforts.
Facebook.
Facebook remains the world’s most used social media platform. Around 2.96 billion users log into Facebook each day. (Learn more about the platform demographics.)
For businesses, Facebook is well worth considering. Over 200 million businesses are active on the platform; small, local businesses are a huge part of that user base.
